In June, 2008, DreamWorks Animation Studio released globally another animated blockbuster Kung Fu Panda, choosing one of the most popular and renowned Chinese traditional elements, martial arts as the core element of the film.
The synopsis of Kung Fu Panda looks like something like this: a clumsy panda named Po lives with his foster father, a duck, in Peace Valley. On the surface, Po may look like just like another portly panda, but beneath his fur, he bears the mark of the chosen one. By day, Po works faithfully in his family's noodle shop, but by night, he dreams of becoming a true master of the martial arts. When an ancient prophecy has come to pass, Po realizes that he is the only one who can save his people from certain destruction. In the end, with the help of the legendary Furious Five, Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper, Monkey and their wise mentor, Master Shifu, the noble Po masters the martial arts and somehow transforms his greatest weakness into his greatest strengths. It is these incredible strengths that beat the malevolent snow leopard Tai Lung. He fulfills his destiny as the hero who saves his people during their darkest hour.
It is not difficult to find that instead of applying the Chinese elements simply to film-making, the producers of Kung Fu Panda take some typical oriental philosophical themes, such as life, destiny, living and death into thorough consideration. The producers made great efforts to maximize the compatibility of American values and Chinese traditional culture and minimize the conflicts. If what Mulan presents can be generalize as Chinese form and American theme, Kung Fu Panda is more like a combination of Chinese essence and American spirit.
II the Compatibility of American Values and Chinese Elements
2.1 The charactersThe title says it all with Mulan, a famous Chinese classic which tells a story about how an ordinary girl manages to be an honorable heroine. Since the plot background is set to be in ancient China, no wonder the characters closely resemble the Asian in terms of appearance.
Besides those black-eyed, yellow-skinned characters, there is also a little dragon which attracts much attention from the audience. Dragon used to be the symbol of Chinese royalty in feudal period. It stands for nobility, power and endless fortune. Even in today's communist society, dragon continues to serve as the mascot of the Chinese nation. Even if Muxu( the name of the dragon) is nothing like the noble and fierce dragon which represents the temperament of the Chinese nation，the adorable little dragon successfully bring about laughter and make the whole film much interesting.
The panda Po in Kung Fu Panda is another Chinese symbol which is probably even more popular than dragon in western world. While the dragon has historically served as China's national emblem, in recent decades the Giant Panda has also served as an emblem for the country. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, and platinum coins.
However, unlike a real black-eyed panda, the American panda Po has a pair of green eyes which resemble the Caucasian. In Kung Fu Panda Po is not a docile panda that everyone loves. On the contrary, he is chatty, obese, slothful, gluttonous, and has interpersonal relationship issue. Undoubtedly, the film aims to tell another typical "American Dream" story of how an extremely ordinary chara
